


Homecoming

by zarabithia



Category: DCU (Comics)
Genre: Gen, Pre-New 52
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2007-06-12
Updated: 2007-06-12
Packaged: 2019-05-20 20:05:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,830
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14901105
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zarabithia/pseuds/zarabithia
Summary: Lian adopts her Uncle Kyle's legacy.





	Homecoming

**Title:** A Return to Normalcy, PG  


When the last great battle came, something a lot of the heroes called The Third Crisis, Kyle was more than happy to give up being Ion.

He'd struggled for so long to be the torch-bearer that everyone wanted, but he'd never been successful, and he'd failed so many people who had depended upon him along the way. He'd lost his mother because of Ion, and his travels away from home nearly cost him Connor for the same reason.

Watching the ragged breaths of his one-time lover in the Star City hospital room caused Kyle to reach the decision he should have long ago.

He was going to quit.

Luckily for him, The Third Crisis came along a week later and gave Kyle a way to rid his body of Ion's power. Relinquishing his energy against the Monitors' doomsday device did hurt and would have cost Kyle his life if Hal hadn't been there to catch him. But the act saved the every universe that had been threatened, and there was nothing The Guardians could do about that, or the fact that he was no longer their "torch-bearer."

Oh, they still hadn't liked it much, and it had taken a full year before they accepted his decision.

But three hundred and sixty-seven days after Kyle sacrificed Ion's powers to save the multiverse, his loved ones, and himself, Ganthet paid Kyle a very familiar visit and offered Kyle the chance once again to be a normal Green Lantern.

Standing in the studio he shared with Connor, his lover's encouraging hand rested on Kyle's shoulder as he accepted the offer.

He'd never be Ion again. But Kyle _would_ be a hero.

He would wear the ring.

 

 

**Title:** Passing On  


_"In brightest day..."_ Her throat hurt and her eyes were blurry as she looked down at the man whose head was cradled in her left arm. But though her voice shook, she listened to the last set of instructions he could give her, as she held her right hand up to the lantern, and swore her oath.  
  
_"In darkest night. . ."_ There had never been a shortage of Green Lanterns around the Grayson-Harper household. Though he hadn't become a true part of her life until Lian was six, Hal Jordan was a near permanent fixture, given his connections to her father, Aunt Dinah, and Grandpa Ollie. Kyle Rayner was also a near constant fixture in Lian's life, and had been since he'd married her Uncle Connor when she'd been eight. __  
  
_"No evil shall escape my sight..."_ Hal was okay, and pretty fun, as far as her _grandfather's_ friends went. He did promise to teach her how to fly a plane someday, which Lian always thought would be cool.  
  
_"Let those who worship evil's might..."_ But once she'd really gotten to know Kyle, he'd pretty much instantly claimed favorite uncle status- outside of Uncle Dick, who didn't count, since he was really Dad Number Two. Kyle'd introduced her to _art,_ and the two of them had wasted many a lazy afternoon sketching the various residents and objects of Central Park. She'd wanted so much to be just like her Uncle Kyle, but she'd never wanted it to be like this. __  
  
_"Beware my power... Green Lantern's light!"_ Because her family already had enough Green Lanterns, and she'd never wanted to inherit the mantle - especially not at the expense of the man Uncle Connor loved with all his heart. __  
  
"Please don't die," she begged after finishing her oath to the bloody figure who had so bravely defended her against Major Force. He'd done so well, too, and she wanted to tell him so, because she knew how much pain Major Force had caused Uncle Kyle.  
  
"Don't have much choice," Kyle muttered. Blood trickled down her uncle's face- god, this was all her fault. If she'd been a better Speedy-in-training, her stupid trick arrows could have actually been helpful in the battle.  
  
"Uncle Kyle, just hold on. The League -"  
  
"The ones that can help are off world," Kyle corrected, and Lian had to strain to hear him. "Major Force is a coward like that. Lian - I'm sorry. Sorry I can't stay and protect...always did a lousy job at that with the women I love."  
  
"You can't die, Uncle Kyle. I can't be a Lantern. I don't know how -"  
  
"If anyone knows about carrying on a legacy, it's you." Lian stifled her tears and nodded. "Ring picks the wearer. Doing a lot better job ....picking you than me. Sorry...sorry can't protect you...sorry all the pain ...going to cost you...tell Connor...so sorry."  
  
The man who had been her art teacher, the one whose studio she had retreated to when her dads got to be too much to deal with, the one who had told the kind of epic tales involving the League and her family that Lian loved but only partially believed, the one who had broken her belief in Sea Monkeys but fostered a belief in Santa Claus since the day Daddy had introduced them. . . that man gave her one last smile before breathing his last breath in her arms.  
  
Lian was still wiping her tears away and trying to find the strength to get up off her knees when Major Force decided to reappear for round number two. "Well, well. A _Girl_ Lantern. This will be even more of a treat. I wonder if you'll be as weak as the pathetic creature at your feet."  
  
She laid her uncle's head gently down on the ground before she turned to face his killer.  
  
Unfortunately for Major Force, Lian had grown up with two Green Lantern uncles. Holidays had been full of stories and arguments about the best way to make the ring work. The ring on her finger might have only been placed there five minutes before, but the newness of the weight on her right hand didn't hold back the power of the weapon one bit.  
  
For the first time in his miserable existence, Major Force got his ass kicked by a very angry, very powerful _girl_.  
  
***  
  
  
**Title:** Homecoming  
By the time Lian made it home to the brownstone she shared with her father and Uncle Dick, her tears had completely dried on her cheeks. The pain she felt at losing her favorite Lantern had instead been replaced by the same kind of empty, numb feeling that had settled into place the week they’d lost Aunt Mia.  
  
"You’re late, young lady, and I hope you have a good excuse unless you want to be grounded," Uncle Dick called from the kitchen where he was no doubt making dinner with Dad. It was a Tuesday, and that likely meant her favorite chicken casserole from Dad and salad from Uncle Dick.  
  
Because that was their routine, and routines were very important. Right up until the minute some creep walked in and ruined them just because he had the power to do so.  
  
"Lian, is everything okay?" Two heads popped around the corner of the wall separating the kitchen from the living room.  
  
Silverware clattered to the counter tops as both of the men who had raised her took in the costume she still wore, the ring on her hand, and the way she floated two inches off the floor.  
  
Somehow, it was easier to stay numb if she flew than if she tried to walk.  
  
Her father reached her first, with Uncle Dick a step behind him. "Lian, what’s going on? Why do you have that costume on?"  
  
"Uncle Kyle is dead," she answered, her voice far more calm than she felt. "I think you should contact Uncle Connor and Uncle Hal. I would …but it’s harder to use this thing to communicate than it is to use it as a weapon."  
  
It’d been so _easy_ to use it as a weapon.  
  
"Baby Girl - " Her father was interrupted by her Uncle, and Lian was vaguely aware of the mini argument they had over who should do the contacting.  
  
In the end, Uncle Dick won, as he did most of their fights. "I’m sorry you had to witness that, Lian," he murmured softly as her father went to contact the … _other_ Lantern.  
  
"I wanted to ... kill him," Lian said slowly. "He can't be killed, everyone knows that by now. But I wanted to so much. He _deserves_ it for what he did."  
  
She expected a lecture, indignation, anger, a reprimand - anything to remind her that killing was _wrong._  
  
Instead, he pulled her into a hug. "I was there once," he whispered into her hair. "And I _know_ , baby girl. I promise you, I know."  
  
The gentle words were too much to deal with, after what had happened. Leaning into the strong arms that could never wake her from this nightmare like they had the ones of her childhood, Lian gave into the sobs that wanted to spill forth.  
  
The tears came back in full force and in the safety of her home, Lian didn’t try to hold them back.  
  
****  
  
  
**Title:** Autumn  
By the time Autumn came, Lian turned sixteen, and was supposed to start eleventh grade. Instead, she was on her way to Oa with Uncle Hal, to train and learn how to use her so-called gift.  
  
But before she left the planet, Lian made one final stop to Star City’s largest, most extravagant grave site to say goodbye and to apology to Aunt Mia for breaking a promise Lian had always intended to keep.  
  
"I’m sorry," Lian said aloud, laying the freshly picked tulips on the grave. "I can’t be Speedy, Aunt Mia. I can’t carry on your legacy like I swore I would."  
  
They were red and yellow tulips, and though Aunt Mia had liked white roses the most, Lian couldn’t quite bear to place flowers that matched her costume on her aunt’s grave.  
  
"I understand if you’re disappointed … or angry. Dad and Grandpa Ollie are still really upset," Lian continued. "But the day Uncle Kyle died, I took an oath, and I knew what it meant. Daddy and Uncle Dick taught me not to turn my back on responsibilities. I hope you can understand that, Aunt Mia."  
  
Even if her father and grandpa refused to even attempt to try.  
  
"I’m _so_ sorry," Lian apologized again to the granite slab. "I really _did_ want to be Speedy…I wanted to be _an Arrow_. But even though I can’t, I hope I can still make you proud of me."  
  
Lian hoped she could make all of her family proud of her, even the ones that were most unhappy with the ring having chose her.  
  
She bit down the sniffles that wanted to come - Green Lanterns didn’t cry - and said her final goodbyes to the woman whose footsteps were on the wrong path for Lian to follow.  
  
Then the youngest Lantern in the Corps rose into the Autumn sky and joined her Uncle Hal. Together, they flew on towards Lian’s destiny.  



End file.
